C&C Request: Mount Rainier with my son

I'm learning a lot from this site. I think I've improved in the past few weeks reading through this forum.

The scene:
It was unusually good weather for this mountain and we got up there in the early evening last Sunday.
* I used the 50 MM "Kit" lens with the Canon Rebel XT (350D)
* No filters (perhaps a polarizing lens would have helped some?
* I used a cheap, Walmart tripod. (I'm quickly finding out with the POS that tripod quality actually does matter and you get what you pay for)
* Most were taken stopped way down to the 18-22 range. But the amount of light you see in the pics is actually very accurate. That is what it looked like.
* My biggest concern is still "clarity". I think it might be a lens issue because I have seen stunning pictures taken with the 350D - and mine never are.

I could take or leave the "border". I did it as an experiment. I like the effect but it may be a bit big and distracting for some. I made it by simply taking a slice of the granite stairway he was sitting on.

This was a bit dark so I lighted it up in PS ... but in doing so it lost it's clarity and ended up a bit hazy. I stopped it down and stood back in an attempt to keep both him and the mountain in focus but then the shutter speed was so slow it was nearly impossible to get a hyper 3 year old to sit still enough,

How to get it lighter without over exposing the snow?? I've always had a problem with this concept....what is the secret? (Unless you think it is OK - since this IS what it actually looked like)

This was going to be a throw away shot but a bit of fun with radial blur in PS made it look kind of fun: